Irene Rivera-Rodriguez: NYC Fair Trade Coalition

It hasn’t been easy for Irene Rivera-Rodriguez. The East Harlem resident has fibromyalgia, lupus and other illnesses. 

She lost her only child two decades ago.

“Just trying to do things in my neighborhood that I could be useful and really, really just serve,” she said.

What You Need To Know

• Irene Rivera-Rodriguez has been volunteering with the NYC Fair Trade Coalition for three years
• She organizes hangers, gets donations onto racks and shelves and more
• Rivera-Rodriguez has been a maternal figure to many of the staff and volunteers at the coalition

But twice a week, Rivera-Rodriguez finds solace in volunteering at the NYC Fair Trade Coalition.

The coalition helps businesses adopt best practices for its workers and the environment and runs a thrift store to keep old clothing out of landfills.

“It’s an opportunity to talk about sustainability and opportunity to be a resource for people, an opportunity to build community and to teach,” she said.

Rivera-Rodriguez started at the Coalition three years ago when she saw them selling clothing at a stoop sale. She signed up to volunteer the next day. Rivera-Rodriguez takes in donations and gets them onto racks and shelves.

“Someone might look at this as just a thrift shop, but we’re really trying to teach the community about sustainability,” she said. 

Rivera-Rodriguez is a serial do-gooder. She also volunteers at a local community center and at her church.

During the pandemic lockdown, she helped find protective equipment for members of her community.

“If you could help one person, you can save a family,” she said.

And she’s become family to many of the young people at the Fair Trade Coalition

“I had nobody to instruct me to do certain things because you know my family just wasn’t from here,” said Josthyn Ramos, a community manager at the NYC Fair Trade Coalition. “And they don’t know how things work here or how our society works here in a certain way. So she’s been a lot of help.”

Rivera-Rodriguez says her community work gives her the chance to channel her energy into something good instead of getting wrapped up in her medical and personal struggles.

“It makes me feel purposeful,” she said. “It makes me feel like even, even despite my disabilities, I can still serve. I can still help. I could still be part of something greater than myself.”

For giving her community a place to practice sustainability, Irene Rivera-Rodriguez is our New Yorker of the Week.

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